Bringing Religion into Development Revisiting the Key Conceptual Issues

Abstract

Attempts to break away from the domination of economistic and modernizing perspectives have paved way for more socially and  culturally meaningful development practices. Many of the academics and practitioners have started to look for the ways in which  ethical frameworks, moral orders, belief systems, spiritual underpinnings, or religious practices pertinent to local peoples’ lives can be  taken more perceptively on board while policies, programmes and interventions are conceptualized, designed, operationalized, or  evaluated. The main aim of this write-up is to explain the relationship between religion and development in its historical context, and it  also attempts to show how the Western-secular bias has created ground for inadequate and misleading appreciation religion’s role  in the life of people of the developing countries. We first explore the ways in which mainstream development narrative has treated  religion in most part of its history: as a phenomenon to be ignored or unaccounted for. Then we briefly examine the contemporary  contexts which pave way to bring this understanding to the fore that religion could play a substantial role in the process of  development. If development is conceptualized as responsible, ethical and shared way of living, there would be greater scope for  religion to become relevant and influential.